What do you want?
by SilverSuitedPierrot
Summary: "... I need you to protect me." "Okay Sarah, but promise you'll protect me too?" "Promise."
1. The Ether Bunny

The desert heat could not have been more unbearable.

120 degrees Fahrenheit and humid; sweating your clothes off was a normal thing.

But not me, no sir.

I confined myself to my small apartment, an apartment that had luckily acknowledged the need for an AC. The temperature on the thermostat was not to be lowered below 77, otherwise the contraption would find the opportunity to magically combust and refuse to supply me with cold air.

I turned on the lamp, which limply hung from the ceiling, allowing its mane of bright lights to illuminate the living room. An old brown couch sat in front of the small SANYO flat screen, it's faded silver buttons shimmering slightly as I took my seat on the left cushion. I placed my elbow onto the armrest , checking my watch.

Ten minutes until eight.

I sighed and looked around for the remote, but the smug little bastard didn't want to show itself. "I swear Nicky hides it from me on purpose."

Again, the old silver button shimmered faintly, calling out to me. "But I don't want to get uuup..." I whined.

I slid down the couch into a lazy pile, and crawled to the TV screen as if I was was crawling through thick puddles of hot tar. It might as well have been tar, that took too much damn effort. "Nicky, tell my pillow I love him, tell my bed I cheated on him, tell Freddie he needs to lay off the chips, tell Patty that dress really did make her look fat-"

_KNOCK, KNOCK!_

I twisted my head in the direction of the door, smiling, "Who's there?"

"It's the Ether Bunny, I ran out of eggs!" A giggle erupted from the other end of the door, this time I had my ear pressed against it.

"The Ether Bunny? Gosh, I wonder what he wants?" I grinned and watched Nicky through the eyehole, watching as she glanced at a confused Mrs. Perez. Nicky giggled and put her fingers to her lips, the elder woman nodded and repeated the gesture.

"The Ether Bunny wants your eggs, raaawr!"

I opened the door, and swept my giggling Nicky off of her feet. "Oh do you now!"

"Thank you Mrs. Perez for looking after her today, I thought my boss would never let me out of there, but there was a fire in his office and we got to leave 13 minutes early!" That's what he gets for trying to sneak in a cigarette into the shop!

"It's quite alright, Sarah." She ruffled Nicky's red hair. "I would babysit this adorable child for you any day. She keeps my Rosalinda company too...It's getting a bit late isn't it?"

The small woman pinched Nicky's cheek softly before turning to leave,  
" Well, I have to go finish grading some tests Sarah, have a wonderful night!Sweet dreams!"

"Bye!"

* * *

"So, my little Ether Bunny, how did it go?" She grabbed her favorite flower undies and ran after me, hopping on one leg trying to put the other in the leg opening.

"Mrs. Pear took us to McDonalds, but we didn't go outside, we took our Happy Meals to the park. You know the one with the ducks?"

I laughed as I pulled one of my long black t-shirts over her head, "Ooh, that sounds fuuun! Did you feed 'em?" I picked up the towel and hung it on my bedroom door, it was basically my towel rack. Poor thing.

"Mrs. Pear said that the ducks would steal my fries, and I wanted my fries so I didn't. But Rosie threw her fry at a big white one and it chased her. Then it started chasing me and then I ran and ran, as fast as I could. Which is really fast because I'm fast. And I climbed the tree and it couldn't get me, and then Mrs. Pear scared it away and we ate."

We brushed our teeth together and I went to go turn off the closet light. "Wow what a lucky bunny, all I did was scoop ice cream..."

"Yeah, but that's cool! You get to be around ice cream all the time, and you get free tubs too! That's waay cooler Sarah!"

"Aw my sweet little bunny, you always know how to make feel better..."

I pulled her up onto our bed, and she stood up proceeding jumping on the mattress. "Yeah!"

"Nicky, sleepy time! The Sand Man won't give you sweet dreams if you don't go to bed!"

She looked at me with wide eyes, pausing her. mid-jump, "Really?" I nodded, my eyebrow arched.

"Now come here darling... "

"If I get under the blankie can you tell me one of your stories?"

"Sounds like a deal missy."

I shook her hand and pulled the blue blanket over her shoulders, propping my chin on my hand, " Once upon a time, there was a boy named Jack Frost... He... Was a winter spirit and he made the snow fall here in the valley every winter, he would make snow forts for everybody and have the snowballs ready. Everyone knew who he was, some people even claimed to see him, but one night that all changed. One night, Jack Frost never came back. Lots of people said he hit his head on one of his own icicles and forgot about us..."

"What! That's so sad Sarah, what a mean icicle! No wonder it has snowed in foreeeever!"

"That's why some people say he ended up living in Antarctica, but we all know that isn't true...you can't have snowball fights with penguins!"

She grinned, and nodded emphatically. "Go, go!"

"Now, after Frosty here had forgotten about us and had gone to some place far,far away Christmas came to cheer everybody up. Yeah Nicky, Santa gave everybody presents and everybody lived happily after!" I finished up the story in a way that would satisfy Nicky and make it short. Presents for everybody was the only thing I could come up with ok? Geez.

"Yay!" She started to jump, but face-planted into the pillow after the third one.

I looked over her shoulder to see if she was okay, but she was snoring away counting sheep and what not. I kissed the top of her head and rolled over, "Sweet dreams Nicky."


	2. Is she yours?

I knew I was dreaming... I mean I was standing atop of a mountain with wings flapping behind me, how could it not be a dream?

_I felt the sudden need to feel the cool air across my face and with that I pushed off the mountain and dived into the sky. It felt wonderful; watching blurs of green, white, and brown running beside me was ultimately magnificent._

_The ocean appeared under my feet, brightening as I dipped the tip of my left wing into the surface causing a hoard of mini waves. "Yeaaah! This is so awesome!"_

_Then the scene changed._

_I fluttered downward onto a yellow plain that swayed with the warm air. There was an old man talking to me in French, I knew it was French because he was saying moi and stuff. Yeah, not really good with other languages..._

_Anyways, he invited me inside. It was huge. You know Cosmo and Wanda's fishbowl and how it's unimaginably spacious? Yeah, like that._

_A pull at my arm brought me out of my trance, and the old man's mouth moved but I could hear no words. His lips went into half-smiles and into 'o' shapes his tongue moved but I couldn't understand anything...I'm really bad at reading lips._

_But what caught me off guard was when he poked my eye suddenly._

_"Hey! What're you doing!"_

_I whacked his nasty old finger away from my face and backed away, trying to find the door to this place. "Hey stop, it hurts buddy." I looked towards a beam of light, then at the old man that had suddenly turned into Nicky._

"Mfmmmf?"

"Sarah, gosh you slept a long time... It's waffle Saturday remember?" She made a face and pulled at my eyelids that had glued shut while trying to comprehend what hour in the day it was.

"Sarah, please my tummy wants waffles!"

I yawned into my pillow,and got up slowly. Getting up too fast would break all of my sluggish bones in my body in a jiffy. "I'm going, I'm going!"

* * *

Man, praise Jesus for frozen waffles. Those things literally save me every time.

"Sa-mf, today's Jackie's birthd-mfmm, can I go?"

Oh gosh Nicky, you look like a chipmunk! "Oh, I forgot about that..." No I didn't.

"Please, pretty please with cookies on top?"

"I told you yes on Tuesday, I don't think I'll be able to change my mind." I stuck my tongue out at her. "But, I'm coming with you. I hardly know her parents."

"That's ok! You guys can talk while we play on the slip n slide!"

Anxiety coursed through my veins. What if her parents were irresponsible? My hands tapped at the steering wheel as I parked the car. What if they were chain smokers? What if they flew high, potheads? Alcoholics?

"Alright Nicky," I said as I tucked a loose strand of her red hair behind her left ear, " give this present to her mom and stay with the other kid okay?" I kissed her forehead and rang the doorbell.

"Ah Sarah, it's so nice to see you again! Come in, come in. Oh this present,for me Nicky?"

Nicky's eye opened wide and she shook her head grasping the box closer to her small chest, "It's for Jackie, sorry Jackie's mom..." She gave the box to the older woman.

The next thing I knew a bunch of little girls and boys came rushing towards my little bunny, and took her away in a fit of ecstatic giggles.

"Whoa, wild bunch aren't they?"

"Oh yes, they're all very excited... I think it's the first birthday party of this month... " Jackie's mother, whose name I did not remember at the moment, guided me to the kitchen where almost all the mothers seem to be at.

* * *

"And then I heard Jocelyn kissed her ex husband right in front of her fiancé, I mean really! She could have been more discreet about her cheating ass!"

There was a sudden wave of 'Ooh's' and 'Oh my Gods' that rose from the kitchen of gossip. I rolled my eyes and was about to sit at the couch on the other side of the room, but a wheeze and a screech beckoned me from the kitchen. I think her name was Marianna.

"Yeah, what's up?" I pulled up a stool, my bare elbows resting on the cold countertop. It was actually a pretty nice counter, white marble and all but I couldn't quite appreciate it with Marianna trying to evaluate me.

"So, is Nicky your biological daughter?"

My breath hitched in my throat as multiple emotions flooded through my eyes and into my heart: Anger, sorrow, grief, disappointment, realization. I chewed the inside of my cheek, while looking away from the woman, maybe if I don't look at her it'll be easier to answer. "No, she's adopted. "

My answer was brief, but I mean come on. I'm nineteen for Pete's sake, how the hell am I supposed to handle this? What ever happened to not sticking your nose in other people's personal lives?

"So you're not a single mother? Why'd you adopt her so young, wasn't it hard to express this idea to your parents?" . Fuck.

I turned to her, my face livid. "I'm an orphan. " She stood quietly her jaw clicking.

"I was in the same orphanage only two years ago, she was only five then. I promised her as soon as I was eighteen, I would adopt her and take her out of that hellhole and have her live with me the rest of her life." My temple pulsed slowly under my skin, I took a breath. "I'm sorry, I have to go...I just remembered Nicky had a dentist appointment today, tell Jackie I said happy birthday..."

I opened the screen door, and called Nicky, "Nicky I just remembered we have to go do something important!"

"But I don't want to leave!"

"Yeah don't let her leave! She just got here!"

"Please, please Ms. Uris !"

I turned to the women in the kitchen who were already whispering amongst themselves, " I'm sorry Nicky we have to go..."

She looked at me, pleading to let her stay, but I held my ground and grabbed her arm gently.

"No! " She threw a fit, yelling at me. "Why won't you let me stay! You're just a big meanie! "

I scooped her into my arms, ignoring her flailing limbs and strapped her into her car seat. She had her arms cross while her face was red and tear-stained do to the previous tantrum.

I kept my face straight but I was dying inside. I didn't mean to take away my baby's fun, it was just... Mariana... She had no right ... But then I answered her... Ugh!

As I slowed down, I let my forehead fall onto the steering wheel. I could hear Nicky unbuckling her seatbelt and opening the passenger seat. She pulled the keys from the ignition. When I heard the door slam, and saw Nicky run into the house I broke into tears.

Is this what I've been holding in for so long?

Why couldn't I have been born into a normal family, why did they have to abandon me? Wasn't I good enough?

Nicky's sweet face flashed through my mind, erasing all other thoughts. "But my baby needs me, and I need her... And if I had been born into a normal family I would have never met her... Alright Sarah get your shit together-"

_Tap. Tap. Tap._

"Miss?" A elder man stood outside of my door. "You better get out of this car the house just across the road is on fire. It isn't safe to be in your car for too long, that arsonist I saw running this way might come and burn you too."

"Oh my God! That's my house that's burning!" I grabbed his flannel shirt collar and let go. "Hello? 911, my house is on fire! What? You have my fucking address, no I wont calm down my baby is in there! Get the fuck over here!"

Wait a minute...

A high-pitched shriek made its way to my ears and the horror surfaced, "NICKY!"


	3. Talking rose bushes!

I was traveling through darkness.

I had no sense of what was up nor what was down.

My body was floating through a quiet void, what direction I was constantly spinning I could not tell,but I was certain of one thing: I was not alone. A small beige shadow had emerged from the shadowy depths of this never ending tunnel; a shadow that moved below me also experiencing the effects of zero gravity.

I had no means of disrupting the ear-piercing silence that followed the shadow and I. I had felt that if I made even the tiniest of noises I would upset some imaginary, intangible but powerful force and suffer under its blind wrath.

Dreading the idea that I could possibly be killed in this strange precarious void, I attempted to turn my thoughts to what had previously occurred , to what had started this journey in the first place.

But I couldn't.

No matter how hard I tried, no matter how hard I thought, no matter how hard the skin between my eyebrows creased, nothing came to mind. It was as if my memories had had enough of my horrid mistreatment, had packed their imaginary bags and left my brain for good. Could I really not remember anything?

I should have realized what I was doing-clutching my head between my hands while muttering verses of frustration that increased in volume with every strained effort of trying to recall anything, anything at all- because as I opened my eyes a giant palm grasped my body and yanked me upwards.

Everything after that went dark.

* * *

Eyes wide, and hyperventilating. That's how I woke up.

And in what? An abandoned canoe in the middle of a lake.

And with what? That same beige cloud from before.

A bright white light captured cloud and I, I believe it was coming from the big round moon from above. A few minutes passed by before there was a deep sigh, and a voice called out from the sky.

"Sarah Cloud. You are a water spirit, but you do not draw strength from the ocean. You will help sustain life where the ocean cannot reach."

I nodded slowly, too afraid to go against the strange new being. A rustle from behind me made the moon speak again.

"Nicky Bow. You will provide the colors of the world to help the people of this world know that Sarah means no harm."

"Who is she?" We both asked simultaneously. We stared at each other for a good while, unsure of what to think of one another before looking back at the moon.

His reply was concise, "Mother and daughter."

"I'm a mom?" I said to myself, a little unsure. My eyes followed Nicky's silver locks that glided in the air, she came forward and grasped my hair.

"We have the same color hair!" She giggled, and grabbed my cheeks wanting me to look her in the eyes. "And we both have the same silv ... Uh silver eyes!"

I don't think Nicky doubted that I was her mother, but I don't think I would be right in telling her I wasn't, because deep down it felt right. It felt familiar for her to be giggling her living lights out; it felt familiar having her in my arms while she dozed off.

The wind managed to find its way around the small canoe making it spin slowly about the water, the stars above spinning to their hearts delight. An arm outstretched towards the majestic lights, I cupped the moon. The moon flickered towards us once last time before a magic string of sand wrapped around my fingers.

"Where are we?" I muttered to myself, placing a hand on the side of the canoe. "Almost forgot I was in a lake... I was about to climb out of this thing."

The lake moved sluggishly, prodding the end of the canoe towards the shore. Just as it hit the peach colored sand, a soft whisper caught my ears and urged me forward.

I felt a tug at my dress, Nicky probably heard it too. "Did you hear it too, my little bunny?"

Little bunny... Okay ... I hope that's a memory ...

She nodded rubbing her eyes with her small fists, "Over there Mommy, over there." She took my hand and started pulling me forward into the great labyrinth of trees that stood out from amongst the small floral patches of yellow and pink.

The leaves crunched under our weights, scaring a few brown bunnies on the way which caught little Nicky's attention from time to time. But then the voice, fragile and soft caught our ears again and we appeared before a small rose bush.

"Oh my God, a talking rose bush..." I scratched my head nervously, "What do you want?"

_Water, please._

"Whoa! Did you just?" I looked at the plant that seemed to know how to use telepathy, which persisted in asking me for water. "Okay, okay. Um, how do I do this?"

Okay, the moon named me cloud, so I'm guessing rain and all that jazz.

"Maybe its voice acti... activated?" Nicky said poking the leaves of the talking bush.

"Go! Um, rain activate!" I wiggled my fingers, clenched them, the moved my hands up and down. "Nope, nothing." I tapped my fingers to my chin, waiting for an idea to hit me.

"I think... Have to make the clouds!" I smiled, smiling at my own discovery. " And then go from there..."

"Aha! Mommy look what I can do!"

"Wait a minute Nicky, mommy's thinking... Whoa!"

A rainbow raced by my face, missing my nose by centimeters, before exploding onto the dirt. Walking over to the bomb site, I picked at the ground trying to grab the rainbow pieces but they just kept blitzing away. I turned towards Nicky only to find the rainbow pieces back in her hand.

"It's cool, huh?"

Then the pieces came together.

"I think I understand now, I make it rain and supply the land with water while you provide a rainbow to tell people when the rain stops!"

"I make rainbows!" Nicky shouted with glee. She managed to summon three of them and just whip them around like they were pieces of strawberry licorice. It didn't really do any damage though, they phased right through everything it came into contact with.

"Make some rain mommy! I wanna see!" She ran circles around, trapping me in a tornado of rainbows before I put my hand through it and it fell to the ground.

"How are you making those rainbows there, baby girl?"

She sprinted past me, " I just imagined colors, like the moon said and poof! Rainbows!"

I looked towards the bush, whose leaves had drooped slightly, I frowned and closed my eyes in concentration. Okay make a cloud, make a cloud, make a cloud. "White, fluffy, makes rain and lightning? Condensation?"

A small wisp of air twirled in my palms before an almost unrecognizable speck of white grew to the size of a tennis ball, which turned gray when I silently demanded a drizzle of rain, and to my surprise the rain came. I guided the cloud over to the rose bush who gave a blissful sigh, and straightened its leaves.

An energetic thank you reached my ears, and I smiled eagerly. "You're welcome!"

I spotted a trail of blazing blue down the dirt path and into the trees, and so naturally I followed it knowing it would lead to Nicky. And I was correct, she was there hanging from a tree playing with a squirrel.

And suddenly I fell backwards.

"What was that?"

Nicky pointed towards the sky and said, "Mommy, they want water!"

It seems that Nicky can hear the voices more clearly than I can, maybe the whispers travel faster through Nicky? "Ah okay... Lets see if I can make more than one cloud, and bigger than the one I made for the rose bush for that matter..." I stuck out my tongue at Nicky's teasing.

"Make the clouds take you up in the sky so you can tell them where to put he rain!"

I looked at Nicky in surprise, "Nicky sometimes I think you're too smart for your own good, c'mere you little rascal!" I ruffled her hair and raised her into my arms.

Once I managed to make a cloud big enough for the both of us, I looked at it tentatively. "Okay, Mr. Cloud ... Nice and easy..."

My bare foot made contact with a spongey but solid surface and I looked around the weird looking fog that had appeared. "Okay take us up, but don't drop us please!"

The cloud skyrocketed into the sky without warning which sent me into a fit of loud shrieks of terror, it wasn't because I was afraid of heights, it was just all so sudden. Nicky on the other hand was having a blast. She was already throwing out rainbows here and there. "Nicky, wait a minute, hold your horses! Rainbows don't come out until after!"

"Oops!" She detached herself from my arms, and landed on the giant clouds spongey surface. "Can I watch you make the rain fall then?"

I kissed her forehead, "Of course you can...just don't get too excited and jump off this cloud okay?"

She nodded her head vigorously, and played with the fog that lingered over her head.

"Let's start on the outskirts of town where the whispering is the loudest okay?"

* * *

At first I spread the rain lightly over some fields, not wanting the plants to be pelted by my water. And then I thought about the other places in the world where my rain was probably not getting to so I sent three big gray clouds to each continent, and told them to multiply as they saw fit. It would be more efficient to split up the work.

But I told them not to become too overbearing and drown the land in rain. Just a drizzle here and there. And the deserts maybe a two-day rain span.

But I believe one of the rowdier clouds sent itself to England. Oh well.

"Hey Nicky I'm getting pretty good at this water spirit stuff, hey Nicky! Nicky, Nicky?" I made one of the clouds on the south side disappear, and glanced down at my feet where an exhausted Nicky lay. "Sending those rainbows to follow my clouds must have tired you out...I'm getting pretty tired myself."

I yawned and sat cross-legged on the cloud peering down from above. "Hey cloud, wake me when we reach the city,yeah?"

The cloud gave a thunderous beat in reply.


	4. Let it rain, let it rain

(The people of Burgess)

A woman on her way to the grocery store stopped to rummage through her bag, hoping that she had remembered to place her debit card in her wallet this time. She wouldn't want to have an embarrassing repeat of what happened last Sunday.

She sighed in content when she pulled out the yellow piece of plastic and put it in the back pocket of her black capris. The blond woman then scrolled through her phone quickly for any missed calls. Karen was her name, and she was about to head into the store when she glimpsed at the reflection her phone screen held.

Karen looked towards the fluffy white clouds. "Looks like its gonna get cloudy today." She muttered to herself, before pushing the cart past the sliding doors.

On the other side of the city, a family of five had settled their large picnic baskets atop of a small red blanket. The father looked around the area making sure no danger was around to harm him and his family, and when he made sure nothing was going to spring out of the bushes he held his wife's shoulders.

"Dad! Dad! Look, it's gonna rain!" His youngest, whose name was Hope, pointed towards the sky while her Dad turned onto his stomach for a quick nap.

"That's nice honey, play nice with Nina okay? Daddy's going to take a nap."

She pouted but did as her dad said; she played tag with her older sister while her older brother climbed a tree.

At the coffee shop to the left of the park, an old couple sat behind a window, watching the steam from their coffee cups rise into the air before them. With a quick blow from their trembling lips, they both took a sip.

"You think it's going to rain? The cloud from before doesn't look so nice anymore...Marty?" The old woman looked at her husband who seemed to be contemplating an answer. She smiled sweetly at the far away look on his eyes.

"It snowed all last month, it's getting a bit warmer now ... So why not? Let it rain, let it rain..." He sung briefly, and turned to the waitress with an intent on tasting the new blueberry Belgian waffles.

The meteorologists sung one last final "Happy Birthday" to the three employees that coincidentally had the same birthday on the same month, albeit different years.

One cake, large and round, had centered itself on the brown table behind the cameras. It was blue and white; the white represented the clouds and the blue the sky.

Not too long after the cake was divided, everyone prepared themselves for the 7 PM news. One fellow, named Jonathan was to do the forecasting outside Town Hall . A woman in blue handed him an umbrella, but he gave it back saying, "It's not going to rain, just a few clouds passing by Denise." Denise rolled her eyes and let the man go.

* * *

(Back to Sarah)

An overwhelming shake woke me up, causing me to wrap my arms around a sleeping Nicky instinctively. I peered over the cloud and saw that we had arrived to the center of the foreign city. I smiled.

I rocked Nicky in my arms, first testing my rain on a small area; a small market.

It drizzled a bit, calming the whispers of the plants that been dying for some water. I noticed that they were in pots on display so their pleas weren't very desperate.

Another cloud sprouted from my hand and I waited as it grew to the size of a school bus before letting it turn a dark shade of gray. My little baby girl squirmed in my arms, "I'm awake, I'm awake. Let me go, let me go."

Her bouncing figure could barely be seen from the cloud so when her pinky sprouted from among the fog the small rainbow she had been hoping for floated along the coffee joint instead of the market.

"Hey kiddo, need a lift?" I hoisted her up into my arms. "Haven't even made it to that side yet, that's going to be weird... A rainbow before rain..."

I could already hear the whispers turn into soft giggles, I mentally face palmed.

We were about a good distance from an extravagant but modest looking building that had a giant fountain. The streams of water were ejected from stone koi fish that practically jumped out of the water and onto the concrete.

A silent breeze of cold air ruffled the hem of my dress, but I ignored it and went to spread my clouds over the weatherman who had suddenly appeared near the fountain. His crew positioned him at an angle before counting down and issuing an "all clear" which in return provided Nicky and I with a view of his pearl-white smile. Too bad I was going to make it rain.

And with one quick, "Now!" the cloud clapped, and thunder sounded all around.

I smiled happily as the weatherman looked up at my cloud. It was like he knew I was there, but I brushed it off because I'm guessing the Moon didn't say anything about apologizing for a ruined forecast.

I spun Nicky around laughing at the peoples hastily return to their cars until we fell against the clouds middle.

"Hello?"

My eyes went wide and I looked over to Nicky who looked equally surprised. The fog made it hard to see the person hovering over us, I think it made it harder for the shadow to see us also. I put my finger to my lips then whispered, "Crawl over..."

The shadows raised its voice higher, "I saw you earlier, making it rain on that guy...And your little helper throwing the rainbows was cool too... I just want to know who you are... I haven't seen you around so...You're probably new and have loads of questions about being a spirit and everything."

While he was on blabbering about who knows what, I told the cloud to let me fall out from under it with Nicky, assuring him that I could make myself a cloud fast enough before I hit the cement.

I had no intentions of speaking to this shadow figure, and my maternal instincts were telling me to get Nicky the hell out of there. As soon as we had dissolved through the cloud, I summoned up another one. I hoped for a five footer. If it was long enough I would be able ride it like a rocket propelled skateboard and hightail it out of there.

And that's exactly what I did.

Except, that the shadowy figure saw me, and decided to follow me.

"HEY!" It sped up yelling at the wind to take him faster.

I glanced back and gasped. "C'mon cloud, just a little fast-"

"-FROSTS GOTCHA!"

A slender pair of arms tried to wrap around my chest but since Nicky was in my arms, the arms had to grip onto something else and fast. It took the last option possible, the hem of my dress.

Surprised I let go of Nicky and told the cloud to catch her and make itself bigger so she wouldn't fall out. I told it to hide her in the trees below, and not come out unless I said so.

I pulled the top of my navy blue dress up as we plummeted to the ground. My head titled to see how far we were from the ground, and I closed by eyes waiting for impact.

And when it did, it was a lot softer than what I had anticipated.

"Hey are you okay?"

I had my eyes closed shut, and my chin tucked into my neck with my hands covering whatever I could of my head. I didn't want to answer it, nor did I want to look it in the eyes, but a cool finger brushed my silvers locks away from my face.

My silver orbs met his icy blue, and I gasped. "Oh my god, you're albino..."

He didn't answer me though, he had a strange blue freckles around his cheeks and I was starting to think I was hallucinating.

* * *

(Jack Frost)

I watched her lips move, and form the word albino... She thinks I'm albino?

"I'm not albino, I have brown eyebrows see?" I wiggled them, and winked at her.

She looked away annoyed, "Can you get off."

I huffed and reluctantly removed myself from her, what a killjoy. "Soo, what's your name?"

"Nonya."

Smart ass.

"My names Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun. " I crossed my arms, and casually flew circles around her. "You know you're taller than I expected... "

I got in close, and that totally pissed her off. "And a lot prettier too. "

She raised her eyebrows but I could see the red tinted on her cheeks and I smirked, "What?"

The silver haired woman mumbled a few words, talking to herself like a crazy old bat before a white cloud started to appear in her hands. I landed and leaned on the tree next to her; I watched her in awe, my mouth agape.

It got bigger and bigger, turning from a soft white to a dark gray. So this is what she could do. That's cool. Not as cool as snow but whatever, still amazing. Her face was scrunched up in anger, was she still mad about the landing? I managed to soften it a bit, think she'd be a little more grateful...

"You leave my mommy alone!"

A kick to my shins brought me to reality and I flinched and rubbed my left leg, "What the!"

"You're just a big bully, and you're mean. And stupid. And your ugly!" The little girl ran into the woman's arms feeling that she had accomplished her stand off, and I felt the heat rush to my cheeks again.

So Cloud girl is a mom...? Two spirits... Together?

The little girl lifted her index finger, and her thumb. I looked at her inquisitively forgetting my blush, and watched her slowly make a few rainbows. I looked at them while they spun around, totally engulfed in the coolness of it all before she closed her fingers and trapped me in rainbow rope.

They flew off before I could even open my mouth.

* * *

(Still Jack)

"- isn't as strong as two years ago. And that's why we have to make sure we guide them just like all the other spirits that come every now and then..."

"But you should not worry, it took longer for him to gain that much power, two years has granted him scarcely anything, but you have solid point Jack. Now where is she?"

"I have no idea, her little girl trapped me remember?"

"So what your big mouth is saying is that two spirits were on a cloud, acting all willy nilly, and they fly off because you wanted to say hello?"

"Are you sure there were two?" The ToothFairy asked me, but I could not give her an answer because the Easter Kangaroo thought he had something more important to say.

"Two newbies on the loose, this is just dandy. And Mr. Social over here overpowered by an ankle-biter."

"Hey!"

"North, what do you think we should do?"

"We find mystery spirits of course. What do you think of this Sandy?"

Sandy created a detectives outfit out of his magical sand, and held a magnifying glass to his eye, and flashed an image of a sandy me in the same outfit.

"Right. Jack looks for her. She can't be far. Be too scared to go anywhere else." North concluded.

Thanks a lot guys...

* * *

(Sarah)

"Nicky don't. We can't let the people see us."

I fixated my gaze onto Nicky who hopped over to a pair of swing sets, sitting down, "Push me!"

I grumbled, blaming Nicky if something happened and people were to start asking us weird questions."Hold on tight, don't want you falling okay?"

A soft push was enough to start the swing off and soon enough, with a few extra pushes, she was able to swing back and forth on her own. The blue seat felt wet against my dress but I assumed it was just from the rain I had provided earlier so it made no difference to me. We talked, we sang, and we laughed. We then sat in comfortable silence as we watched the sun set behind the trees. It was a good day so far.

We were about to climb off when a couple of kids came running our way. I hoped they were just passing the swing sets to go onto the slide but they didn't and I looked over at Nicky whose face lit up at the sight of them. Great, now how am I going to get her to leave. She's going to want to play with them...

And just like that, they sat on her. Yeah, they sat on her. And they just phased right through her body. And I was no different, another kid sat on me too.

I got up off of the swing and turned to scold them but they didn't even pay attention to me.

I reached towards the black haired boy that sat in the swing and did the same to the other kids, but neither him nor his friends noticed me, I frowned deeply. I pulled my hand away, the tears brimming my eyes.

They ran into me, as if I was a ghost, somebody who didn't exist...

Nicky on the other hand was yelling her little heart out, "Hey! I was on that swing, you can't just take it! Hello! " She stood in front of them trying to prevent them from swinging but they just swing through her. Every. Single. Time. "I'm talking to you, can't you hear me, get off my swing... G-get off, please ... Get off..." She fell to onto her knees and started to bawl.

The kids ran off unaware of the heart that they had broken and the tears they had left behind.

"Nicky, no. Honey. Come here." She didn't budge, which I made me sigh when I bent down to sit with her. I pulled her into me, "Want to know a secret?"

She nodded her head against my arm, sniffling. God, it was breaking my heart.

"When I woke up on the grass yesterday, and the moon said I was your mommy, I felt like the luckiest person in the world. I felt so lucky because the moon had given me the most beautiful, talented, and wondrous daughter I could ever ask for. I swear when I saw you I knew I would never ever want to see that beautiful smile disappear, I would never let you fall, and I would never let you cry if they weren't tears of joy. I felt lucky because I would be here to hold you when you had your good times and your bad, and I felt lucky because I would be able to brag how great of a daughter you would be. And because I could finally be able to have a daughter that was able to shoot rainbows at bad guys." I pushed her nose softly, and that made her giggle.

"Hey don't you think it's bad being invisible okay? We stick together on this okay?" I picked her up and stepped onto another small cloud. "Let's pay the ice cream man a visit huh?"

She looked at me confused before her little head starting whirring and made sense of what I had told her. She grinned and said, "I want strawberry!"


	5. Yellow

He was after us again, that albino boy. Jack Frost.

We hadn't seen him for weeks because we moved father into the dense forest. I have been sending my clouds on their own for a while now because I don't want him spotting us from above. Nicky's also getting tired of sending her rainbows, she misses the high skies.

But Jack Frost can fly and that's a giant problem. He's figured out I've been creating decoys so my daughter and I can get around without unwanted confrontation. He has stopped following them and rather waits for us to skip into his vision, which has happened twice now. Luckily the forest has provided us with much needed refuge.

"Nicky, do you hear our bush yet?"

"No, mommy not yet. "

You see there's this shrub that's the perfect size for the two of us, and its been our caretaker since the second Saturday of May. It has these yellow flowers on it sides, and its quite the whisperer. I doubt Jack can hear it though.

"Wait. She says she's behind that tree over there!"

Finally.

_I can hear the boy, do not make a sound._

Oh no, he's found us already?

"I know you're here." The voice yelled parting a bush, and yelling "Aha!" Wrong bush.

Idiot.

"Aw..I was sure it was this one." The boy threw his staff into another and watched its leaves frost into his signature trademark. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk. Stop hiding from me guys..."

"He's an ugly fellow isn't he?" A pleasantly tangy but deep accent said out of the blue.

"Ah!" I fell out of the bush trying to get away from the giant creature but I failed and landed on my back.

"Mommy, I think it's a bunny!"

"Get away from him Nicky, we don't know if he's dangerous. Look, he's carrying weapons."

The gray bunny looked at me letting Nicky grab his smooth looking fur. "What're you running from, sheila?"

"Bunnymund, I was supposed to bring her back." The boy rolled his eyes in an attempt to look collected but failed miserably when his eyes caught sight of the giant animals fuzzy smirk.

"And a mighty fine job that was." He snorted, he turned to me. "I got the kid Frosty, you get her mum and I'll meet you at Norths."

"Rude bastard," I muttered. His green eyes narrowed at me, he had heard those two little words. "You can't just take her from me!"

He rolled his eyes and thumped his right foot paw thing, "Watch me." And he disappeared.

"NICKY!"

I turned ferociously towards the snow bastard, and grabbed his collar ignoring the cold that gnawed my flesh. "Where the fuck did he take her?"

He took to long to answer and I became irrationally impatient; I flew off without a word.

* * *

In the middle of the woods, alone , distraught and sobbing I couldn't help like I was the worst mom in the world for being so irresponsible.

Why did they take her? We're they fucking sociopaths? How was I supposed to take her back, my only daughter and love in this world?

_Miss I'm dreadfully thirsty..._

I sent the miniature cloud ahead of me as I dragged my feet, oblivious to everything but the whispers that flew in the air.

_Miss don't walk any further, there's a very deep hole there and I'm afraid you might not be able to get out._

A hole. A hole in the ground. That bastard went into a hole, and he's a fucking psycho rabbit, and rabbits dig tunnels. All the tunnels they have must lead to the same place, right? Fuck logic, I'm going in.

"No worries little daisy, I was looking for this hole in particular." I smiled bitterly.

_Okay, be careful and thank you._

I summoned my cloud and stepped into it. It hovered slowly towards the bottom stopping only when a piece of rubble would tumble onto its surface. I kicked another rock off my cloud.

We reached the ground. I stepped off, "You lead."

The cloud thundered in protest.

"Hey, hey. You can't die, me on the other hand... I'm going to get my ass eaten by a bear looking for that gray bastard."

Twenty steps forward, a fork in the road. Took the left and the ground started to get steeper. The ground became defined and soon enough it looked like I was descending a pair of stone stairs. "Stairs?"

The cloud I told to go on before me came back a little frantically, swirling around me.

"You saw a what?"

Thunder, a bit of rain, white then gray.

"You saw a sleeping bear?"

The cloud gave a thunderous boom.

"A man, a sleeping man." The cloud turned white; ding ding ding.

It was a man alright. You could tell by his hands and feet. No I wasn't standing next to him, I was actually behind some weird castle thing. There were bird cages all around, did this guy have a bird fetish or something?

A hoarse voice called out, "I know... You are here..." The man swallowed deeply grunting as he placed his palms on the floor.

"We'll, fuck." I whispered.

"What do you want." He demanded. He stood threateningly but his stance shifted wearily. His shoulders hunched, his eyes fighting to stay open, "Did the Guardians send you here to check on me? Make sure the boogeyman isn't causing trouble?"

The Guardians? I walked timidly, making sure every step was clean cut but light in case the gray skinned man decided to attack.

"We'll I'm not, leave me alone. Tell them to stop sending their messengers, I don't want them to... To..." His left leg gave out and his body seemed to fall slowly.

I managed to catch him before his knees could touch the floor. Fuck, he was heavy.

"T-this weak..." He lamented, looking down at the ground with his eyes the color of pale yellow paste. "See me this weak... Go on! Tell your friends what bitterness I live in. Tell them I have not even the ability to stand, that I have but one nightmare horse, that'll get them laughing."

I frown deeply, holding the man who was confessing his heart to me.

"Tell the ToothFairy that apart from the emotional hurt that I underwent she got what she wanted, she made me suffer. Hell, tell them I have a fever! What do I care? How lucky they are I am in the woes of my defeat!"

"Shhh, shhh mister. Everything's going to be okay."

He growled loudly and pushed me away. "You are in league with them, and I shall despise you until the day I die. I do not need your pity!"

My sympathy was replaced with immediate contempt, "We'll I don't give two fucks! I don't know who you are, or what the fuck you're talking about! I don't know who 'The Guardians' are, I'm not their messenger, I was trying to find my daughter! A gray bastard disappeared with her into a hole, and I saw this one!"

His pale eyes widened, "Wha-"

"-And I saw you here and you started bawling on me and telling me your life story. Which was pretty depressing if you ask me! I was just comforting you. So don't you fucking yell at me if you don't even know who the hell I am!"

I got up and was about to leave but he grabbed my wrist; he had a firm grip despite his breakdown. His haggard breathing was all I could hear. You could see the way his forehead wrinkled and unwrinkled as he stared at the floor while his eyes darted from left to right searching for something to say; something he was putting together as the imaginary clock ticked away in his mind.

The mans jaded yellow eyes paused, a breath was taken and an uncomfortable air of hate was swallowed, "If you help me regain my strength... I will help you find your daughter."

Without a second thought I agreed, "Deal."

Just wait for me Nicky, it won't be long before I find you.

* * *

"Take me to my room." With his left arm over both of my shoulders I used my left hand to grab his arm and secured his waist with my right so he wouldn't fall. Let me tell you getting Mr. Sunshine up the stairs was not an easy task, I swear he wasn't even pulling his own weight. I was dragging his ass all the way up.

Once we were in an endless tunnel he moved away from me abruptly, I looked at him questionably. "You're too slow," he said.

I bit my tongue quickly. His gaze was set promptly upon the black door that had suddenly resurfaced through the smooth arcs of the tunnel. I nodded stiffly.

"Leave." His voice came out strangely high-pitched, a strained sneeze then followed.

"But what about the deal?" I asked in surprise. "You said you'd help me once you got better."

He turned to me as realization danced in front of his half-lidded eyes. "You don't know do you? You're one of those freelancers aren't you?"

"What?"

"New spirits that The Guardians haven't trained..." A smirk miraculously graced his pale lips.

"Uh, I guess."

"Good. Very, very good."


	6. Friction

I cried the next morning, not because I was stuck in some weird guys cave, but because I missed Nicky. A few stray tears ran along my left cheek, but I wiped them away quickly. I didn't want that man to see me crying. Out of my sadness I created a cloud, hoping it would cheer me up.

The cloud drove along the grand halls, while I only stared in silence.

That is, until the cloud came upon a pond.

My feet struck the concrete floor with a loud _THUMP_, and with sincere trepidation I approached the murky water, wrinkling my nose in disgust as the stench clung to my nostrils. It smelled like thirty year old garbage mixed with the smell of mulch.

A small, half-dead lily pad floated slowly to the left. I touched the pond and watched as it became as clear as air. "There ya' go little guy. "

The lily woke from its wilted state and spun around the pond. It's petals, pearl pink and carnation white seemed to pulse with life.

Suddenly two black blurs whirled around the flower making it flip upside down, I glared at the blurs as they also sent basketball-sized rocks across the cave. The things materialized, and I gasped.

"Horses?" They whinnied angrily. They were quite brilliant, their manes disappearing into their air. Kind of like dry ice, but a deep black pool of it.

They stomped their massive hooves near my feet, and I could almost see my feet getting squashed, "Oh shit, what the. Cloud take me back, crazy ass horses trying to kill me!"

I dived onto the cloud face-first and bounced a little. The air was whipping past my face, growing colder and colder every time we took a corner. A wooden leg would have been a proper replacement had they strutted their magnificent hooves over my blueberries-for-toes.

* * *

Amazingly, I stood in front of that gray man's door; the cloud must have been trying to get me here in the first place. The door was huge at least seven feet, nearly matching the height of the ceiling arcs. It was a very luscious red, and its silver engraved handles made it all the more beautiful.

I knocked on the door lightly, expecting for the man to already be awake. Something told me it was already past noon. I let out an annoyed sigh, and made my way to leave but a faint "Come in," cried out from inside.

I grasped the silver handle and pushed the door to let myself in, then turned to make sure I didn't slam the door. I assumed he was very short-tempered, he would not appreciate any sort of ruckus. Immediately thought back to when I was helping him walk to his room, he was very weak. His very being seemed like it was rooted to the floors of this cave, unwillingly to move. No where to go simply because he could not.

He had leaned his forehead onto the sleeves on my dress, unable to hold his head up from drowsiness; his lips had brushed lightly over the tear in my shoulder. His slow, warm breath tickled my shoulder, but in that same instance he had tensed and taken refuge to the walls of the tunnel. His skin was-

"-Good afternoon." He grunted.

"Hello." I put my hands behind my back and intertwined them, rocking back and forth on the heels and balls of my feet. "My names Sarah by the way." I scanned the ceiling, and rested my eyes on the black walls of the room.

There was a definite sense of reluctance before he mumbled out, "Pitch."

My eyebrows rose at the peculiar name, "Cool, cool." Best not to make snarky comments right now, I warned myself.

Pitch had his back to me, while his head was sort of hanging downward. It looked like he was looking for his shoes or something. I don't know really, I was staring at this really odd painting that was at the wrong angle. I fixed it though. " All better."

I jumped in my shoes a bit when he spoke up, "I need to fetch Aldous." He muttered," Need to...prepare for tonight. Hopefully, it'll go as planned."

I could see him glaring at me from the corner of his eye, "What?"

"I need to change, get out. "

My cheeks flushed, "O-oh sorry. " I held his stare.

"Well?" He sneered, pointing at the door.

"Right! Sorry!" I squeaked.

"Oh God. He probably thinks I'm some sort of pervert. A Peeping Tom, or worse. A Peeping Sarah." I put my face in my hands and sighed. A very very deep sigh. "Get your thoughts together. I want Nicky, my little baby."

"Are you done talking to yourself?" He rolled his eyes, "We have important things to do. "

* * *

"I WANT MY MOMMY!"

"Nicky please just eat you-" The boy pushed the plate forward.

"NO! MY MOM DOESN'T CUT THEM LIKE THAT!" The girl pushed the plate back.

"And how does she cut them Nicky?" He inspected the sandwich, he didn't understand, they were obviously in triangles.

"In triangles." He was annoyed by now.

"But...they're already in...triangles..." He said through gritted teeth.

"No, you did it wrong." She whined.

"WELL I DON'T CARE, YOU'RE GOING TO EAT IT WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!" Breathing heavily he looked at the little girl on the table, and saw that she was going to burst into tears again, "No,no,no,no,no. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it."

Jack glanced helplessly over at the floating man who had his arms crossed and an eyebrow raised. "A little help would be appreciated."

The girl opened her mouth, and nothing. The golden sand had already swirled around her pretty little head, and taken her to dreamland.

Is she out cold?" Jack pulled one of her legs up and shook it. "Yeah, she's out cold. She's getting annoying you know. I don't get how women do this."

The sandman produced a picture of a woman, then a big pregnant belly, and then a tree.

"I know Sandy, its part of nature blah, blah, blah. But I mean did you see her whining, she didn't even eat the sandwich I made her. That's the first time I've ever made anything for anybody!"

Sandy rolled his eyes, and made a shower of snowflakes.

"Oh yeah, that. " Jack huffed. "Damn kangaroo. Tricked me into babysitting her today. Said it was going to be fun." He air quoted the word fun.

Sandy smiled a bit, and made his sand carry the small girl onto the wide red couch filled with Christmas decorations from the past year.

* * *

"You understand?" He gripped my forearm and thrust me out of the entrance. "Don't mess this up."

I cursed as I stumbled, "Sick,my ass."

His cold pasty eyes glared at me from the shadows as I took a deep breath and summoned up the biggest hoard of storm clouds I could muster. I stepped into a graying cloud and floated upwards not noticing the way those pair of eyes softened as I disappeared from view.

"Alright clouds, time to stir up some trouble!"

You see, Pitch, despite how weak he looked was a smart one. He told me how he can't go into the sun because he can't travel through the shadows as quickly. So, guess what I was doing now?

"Spread out guys, spread out over the city! We need the whole area covered!" The whispers were eager, but some were afraid. I called to them soothing and assuring them it wouldn't rain cats and dogs. Pelting plants with water was not on my schedule.

The skies were darker than before and numerous shadows were now visible, I grinned. The winds started to pick up and the cold air sent chills up my spine but that only fueled my excitement. I felt more powerful; my power was being distributed throughout the city by my clouds and I could feel each and every one of them. Thundering and clapping my smile grew wider and I could feel the thunder follow my hands movements. Clap, a thunderous boom following. Clap, another beat of the drums.

_Rub your hands together_, said a whisper. I happily obliged.

I rubbed them against each other, gathering enough friction that could burn a house, and shook them violently. Lightning crackled, and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand. I laughed as I ran across several clouds creating thunder and lightning, and causing havoc in the skies.

* * *

"Mom, I'm scared." The boy in T-Rex pajamas pulled his sheets up to his nose, while his mother waved at the window dismissively.

"Honey, that storm can't get you. You're in the house, you're safe. Nothing's going to hurt you." She kissed her son's smooth forehead. "Now take your nap so we can bake some cookies for your grandma later." He nodded.

His mother walked past the door and slowly shut it. The only light that could be seen was the occasional strike of lightning, and the shadow in the corner of the room smirked because of it. The plan was working.

The shadow knew the Sandman would not arrive during the storm, but his golden sand had made its way quickly to this child. The shadow smirked, "Ah, ah, ah." he taunted waving his finger over the golden dinosaur in the child's dream. He swirled his black sand over the dinosaur and watched his powers go to work. "The boogeyman doesn't like your dreams, let him make some for you."

The boogeyman smirked as the dinosaur dissolved and the boy ran into his house away from the storm in his nightmare. His smile faltered, and he glanced at the storm outside of the window. "Strange."

He listened as the thunder and lightning became consistent to the point where his eardrums pounded in protest. He turned back to the boy. The lightning was burning the boys house down, strike by strike. His eyebrows furrowed, his nightmares were being influenced.

A frustrated growl left his throat, _he w_as not the source of fear here,_ she _was_. _He exited the room, and went down the stairs, purposely letting the door swing open and letting the rain moisten the brown carpet. There were dozens of them,her clouds, he couldn't see her. He felt the urge to cease this, but he needed the power, the recognition. He couldn't let this opportunity pass him. He slipped into the next house without a second thought.

Little did he know that that the source of his frustration was slowly losing herself.


End file.
